Clothing appearance and fit Science and technology

21.6a Plot of logVHI versus logAR by male viewers; b plot 1.10 The perceived body size grades of the thin model, medium 2.6Photographic Comparative Ratings for Single and Double... Most

Clothing appearance and fit: Science and technology

Clothing appearance and fit:

Science and technology

J Fan, W Yu and L Hunter

Woodhead Publishing Limited

Abington Hall, Abington

First published 2004, Woodhead Publishing Limited and CRC Press LLC

ß 2004, Woodhead Publishing Limited

The authors have asserted their moral rights.

Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyright The publishers will

be glad to hear from the copyright holders whom it has not been possible to contact concerning: Figures 1.2, 3.4, 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 6.6, 7.3, 7.9, 8.26, 8.27, 10.4 and 10.7; Tables 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.7, 6.12, 6.13 and 6.14.

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated Reasonable efforts have been made

to publish reliable data and information, but the authors and the publishers cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials Neither the authors nor the publishers, nor anyone else associated with this publication, shall be liable for any loss, damage or liability directly or indirectly caused or alleged to be caused by this book.

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CRC Press ISBN 0-8493-2594-3

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3.3 Testing methods for dimensional fit 33

7.7 Modelling fabric and garment drape 123

generation and garment fit

1.1 Golden ration in nature, design and architecture 2

1.6(a) Plot of log(VHI) versus log(AR) by male viewers; (b) plot

1.10 The perceived body size grades of the thin model, medium

2.6Photographic Comparative Ratings for Single and Double

3.3 Digital human body model based on anatomical landmarks 36

Armhole seam

66

5.11 Cross-sectional profile of body and clothing at the waist line;

5.12 Cross-sectional shape of clothing at the waistline and its

5.14 Cross-sectional waveforms of various clothing materials at (a)

the hip level, (b) the waist level and (c) the bust levels for a

body size no 9

83

5.15 Magnitude of the wavelet transform at the bust line waveform

of a body size no.9: (a) cross-sectional clothing shape, (b)

amplitude of waveform, (c) magnitude of the wavelet

transform

83

6.3 System for the objective evaluation of fabric handle 95

or lateral compression, and (b) fabric bending or shear,

showing the energy loss during a complete cycle as the

shaded area

100

6.10 `Tailoring Control Chart' and high quality zone from wear

8.17 3D Scanner's ModelMaker 154

10.1 Cross sectional view of the geometric model for the

10.4 Design of blouse superimposed onto photographs of the human

10.8 Diagram of two vertical cross sections of the body and a `last'

10.10 The selection of base sections and an example of a different

10.11 The generic feature model of a mannequin with detailed

10.12 The generation of the bodice dummy; (a) a pair of images

captured by two cameras; (b) reconstructed mesh structure and

shaded surface for right front panel; (c) assembled bodice

model with four panels

217

10.17 The integration of the design interface, the pattern flattening

and the fabric drape engine, a) stylished 3D garment panel

design with dart, b) garment panel triangulation with dart,

c) 2D flattening of panel with dart, d) 3D drape of panel

with texture rendering

224

2.1 Rating standard based on standard three-dimensional replicas 23

6.10 Interrelation between difficulties in sewing process and ranges

6.14 Fabric properties associated with potential poor garment

9.1 Examples of latest size designations in various countries 182

Decoration, modesty and protection are the three most fundamental reasons forpeople to wear clothing Two of these, decoration and modesty, are directlyinfluenced by the appearance and fit of the clothing The question which arises ishow clothing should be designed, manufactured and dressed so as to provide notonly good individual fit, but also body image enhancement The subject isinterdisciplinary, involving science of beauty, social psychology, humananthropometrics, fashion and textile design and technology Most books related

to the subject cover aspects, such as sociology (e.g dressing for the rightoccasion)and dress-making, and there is a lack of a comprehensive treatment ofthe subject, particularly from the scientific and technological perspective.This monograph is the first book aimed at providing a critical appreciation oftechnological developments and scientific understanding in areas related toclothing appearance and fit, bridging the science of beauty, fashion design,fabric and garment evaluation technology, garment drape, as well as humananthropometrics and sizing

The book is divided into ten chapters, each dealing with a specific topic.Chapter 1 considers body attractiveness or image and how it relates to clothingmaterial and design parameters Both classical theories of beauty and recentfindings on the interrelationship between body image, body measurements andclothing are discussed Chapters 2 and 3 present and discuss the techniques,methods and standards used by the industry and researchers for assessingclothing appearance and fit Chapters 4 and 5 review research and development

on objective measurement technologies for the evaluation of clothingappearance and fit Chapters 6 and 7 deal with fabric objective measurement,relevant fabric properties and garment drape R&D and related aspects on bodymeasurement, anthropometrics and sizing systems are covered in Chapters 8 and

9 The last chapter reviews published work on garment design and patternalteration for achieving good clothing appearance and fit

The book is intended for a wide spectrum of readers, including students,researchers and academics, as well as professionals in the clothing and textileindustries For easy comprehension, the text is supplemented by illustrations and

photographs wherever possible Although it is essentially a research monograph,

it includes considerable industrial standards, techniques and practices It istherefore not only useful for the academia, but also provides a handy referencefor professionals in the industry

Jintu Fan, Winnie Yu and Lawrance Hunter

Hong Kong

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all individuals andorganisations who have directly or indirectly contributed towards the publication

of this book In particular, we would like to acknowledge:

Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for her contribution of Chapter 10

Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for her excellentassistance in formatting the manuscript, preparation of index andcoordination among the authors

applied in commercial CAD systems and Internet websites

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for his assistance in the literaturesearch and database management of Chapters 3, 5, 8 and 9

for funding the work through its Area of Strategic Development Programme

Jintu FanWinnie YuLawrance Hunter

1.1 Introduction

Our appearance is our most apparent individual characteristic Although we aretaught that we should not judge others by their appearance alone, relying onappearance to guide personal decisions and social interactions is not only

primary medium of expression, for it makes statements on the condition of

Few people have a perfect body Most people would like to improve theirappearance with appropriate clothing, by camouflaging their less desirable

to design garments to present the best image of the wearer, it is necessary tounderstand the perceptions of beauty, body attractiveness and body image aswell as how the perception of body appearance can be modified throughclothing

there are no principles of beauty, although there is a rational basis for genuine

which can be judged to exhibit principles identified as those of beauty but whichdoes not evoke a pleasurable response, and conversely there may be objectswhich are experienced as beautiful but which do not exhibit the identifiedprinciples Nevertheless, the assumption that beauty is just an arbitrary personal

1 Perception of body appearance

and its relation to clothing

J F A N

preference may simply not be true It cannot explain the fact that even

If there are universal principles of beauty, what are they? Ancient Greeksbelieved that the world is beautiful because there is a certain measure,

Ratio or Golden Proportion, a ratio of 1:1.618 has been considered as the perfectratio for beauty (see Fig 1.1) It can be seen in nature and is used for art andarchitectural design Linguists discovered that, although the same sound maymean entirely different things in different languages, there is a universal

Figure 1.1 Golden ratio in nature, design and architecture Source: Photographs by courtesy of Dr Eddy Levin, London http://www.golden meangauge.co.uk/golden.htm

suggested by many philosophers that beauty stems from the relationship

music and poetry, philosophers in the twentieth century realised that such beauty

is likeness tempered with difference or the fusion of sameness and novelty

that men and animals, exposed for some time to a particular sensory stimulus,prefer new stimuli which are slightly different from the one with which they arefamiliar `The likeness tempered with difference' is pleasing to the classification

principle of `averageness being attractive' has a biological foundation It wasproposed by biologists that, during most periods, evolutionary pressures operate

properties have the best chance of survival, and therefore people tend to beattracted to, and mate with, partners having average features

found that facial symmetry is also important Attractiveness increased with anincreasing level of symmetry The preference for symmetry also has a biologicalreason Apart from averageness and symmetry, some extreme traits, such as thepeacock's tail, can be a sign of quality and health in a mate and thereforefavoured in the selection process Using composites of both Caucasian and

faces is preferred to the mean shape of all the faces in a sample Attractivecomposite faces can be made more attractive by exaggerating the shapedifference from the sample mean Therefore, an average face shape is attractive,but not optimally attractive Human preferences could exert a directionalselection pressure on the evolution of the shape of a human face

to average faces A more feminine male face is also preferred above the averageand masculine faces Enhanced masculine facial characteristics increased bothperceived dominance and negative attributes (for example, coldness ordishonesty) relevant to relationships and paternal investment This preferenceapplied across UK and Japanese populations but was stronger for within-population judgements They believed that humans have a selection pressurethat limits sexual dimorphism and encourages neoteny

The beauty of a face has also been measured by Marquardt,15who claimedthat beautiful faces of all races (including babies) fit his `Universal BeautyMask', which is mathematically created from the Golden Ratio (see Fig 1.2).The degree of conformance of one's face to the `Universal Beauty Mask' is ameasure of beauty.

The classical average Greek body proportions have been widely considered as

and 1.4, respectively The various body dimensions are measured in the unit ofhead length For both the male and female, the height is approximately seven andhalf head lengths, with the fullest part at the hipline and wrist level dividing thetotal length exactly in half The neck is about one-third the length of the head, andthe shoulder line slopes a distance of a half head length from the level of the chin.The fullest part of the bust or chest is located two head lengths from the crown Thewaistline, which coincides with the bend of the elbow, is two and two-thirds of ahead length from the crown The knees are five and half head lengths from thecrown and the ankles are seven head lengths from the crown Male and femaleproportions differ only in circumference ratios For the ideal female, the width ofthe hip frontal view is almost the same as the shoulder width The shoulder width

of the ideal male is greater than the width of his hips There is also a greaterdifference in the depth ratios from front to back in the female figure than there is inthe male with respect to bust/waist and waist/hip relationships

Despite the wide appeal of the average Greek body proportions, the concept

or perception of beauty ideals has never been static It varies from time to timeand from culture to culture From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries inwestern cultures, a fat body shape was considered sexually appealing andfashionable The ideal woman was portrayed as plump, big-breasted andmaternal By the nineteenth century, this had shifted to a more voluptuous,

Figure 1.2 Beautiful faces fitted with beauty masks Source: http:// www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/humanface/beauty_golden_mean.shtml

corseted figure, idealising a more hourglass shape In modern western culture,thinness coupled with somewhat inconsistent large breasts and a more toned,

In addition to historical factors, cultural differences play a significant role inthe concept of beauty For example, traditional Chinese culture associatesplumpness with affluence and longevity, and Arab cultures associate greater

body preferences of the culturally isolated Yomybato village in southeast Peruand discovered that the female body preferences of the Yomybato males arestrikingly different from those prevalent in the modern western culture.Yomybato males ranked the `over-weight' female figure as most attractive,healthy and preferable for marriage (see Fig 1.5)

Evolutionary psychology suggests that female physical attractiveness is based

on cues of health and reproductive potential Two putative cues to female

Figure 1.3 Ideal Greek proportions of female figure Source: Horn M J and

Gurel L M (1981) The Second Skin, Third Edition Copyright (ß 2003 by

Fairchild Publications, Inc Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Fairchild Publications, Inc.) 3

physical attractiveness are shape (particularly the waist-hip ratio or WHR) andbody mass index (BMI) Earlier researchers believed that a low WHR (i.e acurvaceous body) corresponded to the optimal fat distribution for high fertility

their findings by deliberately using a set of body images which has an inverse

earlier researchers have not tested their findings on 3-D female images In a

varying body weights (BMI ranged from 16 to 35), were shown to 29 male and

25 female viewers, who were asked to rate their physical attractiveness Theresults showed that the body volume divided by the square of the height, defined

as volume height index (VHI), is the most important and direct visualdeterminant of female physical attractiveness Figures 1.6(a) and 1.6(b) plot the

Figure 1.4 Ideal Greek proportions of male figure Source: Horn M J and Gurel

L M (1981) The Second Skin, Third Edition Copyright (ß 2003 by Fairchild

Publications, Inc Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Fairchild Publications, Inc.) 3

relationship between log(VHI) and log(AR) (i.e the logarithm of attractivenessrating) for male and female viewers, respectively VHI accounted for about 90per cent of the variance of attractiveness ratings Other parameters which affectbody attractiveness include WHC (the ratio of waist height over the chin height)and AWHR (the deviation of the ratio of waist over hip from the ideal ratio).This suggested that human observers may first use VHI as a visual cue, which isalso a key indicator of health and fertility due to its strong linear relation to BMI.

To fine tune the judgement, observers may then use body proportions Fan et al.further showed that there could be perceptual reasons for humans to use VHI orthe associated BMI to determine body attractiveness and fit They also showedthat the effect of the body physical parameters on the perception of femalephysical attractiveness appears to conform to Stevens' power law of

Figure 1.5 Female body figures having varying WHR Source: Singh 1993 20

1.5 Body image

The internal representation of one's own outer appearance, i.e perception of

strongly related to self-esteem and the development of personality

self-esteem and leads to bold, successful interpersonal or business ventures, whereas

a poor view of the physical self may weaken one's confidence

Figure 1.6(a) Plot of log(VHI) versus log(AR) by male viewers; (b) plot of log(VHI) versus log(AR) by female viewers Source: Fan et al 2004 24

Research on body image can be traced back to the beginning of the twentiethcentury, when the association between body image and brain damage wasidentified by neurologists and neuropsychologists Subsequently, researchersrealised the multidimensional nature of body image, namely that body image isattributed to both conscious and unconscious factors, such as emotions, attitudes,wishes and social relationships Studies on the self-perception of bodyappearance began in the 1940s Between the 1940s and the 1950s, numericalscales were designed to self-rate the perception of body attractiveness andappearance It was found that a high percentage of women were dissatisfied withtheir body From the 1960s, increasing evidence has been found that body imageaffects eating disorders and mental distress The neurological basis and clinicalaspects of body image are beyond the scope of this book, but the reader is

Schematic figures or silhouettes of varying sizes, from thin (underweight) toheavy (overweight) are widely used for assessing body image The subjects areasked to pick out the ideal figure and their conception of the figure that mostclosely matches their own The difference is a measure of the satisfaction withone's own body (i.e body image) The frequently used figural scale is the nine-

the figures of such figural scales were pointed out as a potential source of

described the careful development of two scales, a two-figural scale and a

no greater validity than the previous scales as demonstrated by the correlationbetween scale values and measured values of body mass index and weight.Another potential problem with a standardised figure rating is that the subjectmay find that none of the sizes and dimensions reflected by the figures matchtheir own Subsequently, computer programs have been developed to allow

1.6.1 Interaction between viewer, environment, body and

clothing

The appearance of the clothed body is a perception of the viewer (whether of thewearers themselves or others) in a social and climatic context It involvesinteraction between body, clothing, the viewer and environment (see Fig 1.8)

In mathematical terms, the appearance is a complex function of body, clothingand environment (including social, cultural and other norms) Such a visual unit

Apparel-Body-Construct Viewing an Apparel-Body-Construct is not just to scan and

understand the visual components, such as line, shape, colour, texture, bodyshape, etc., which has its own meaning and expressive characteristics, but to

out that the perception of clothing appearance is influenced by the Gestalt effect,that is the whole is more than the sum of its parts For example, the same jacketmay appear different depending on what garments are combined with it

1.6.2 Changes in body cathexis

Satisfaction with body appearance and its separate parts is termed as `bodycathexis' Body cathexis is an evaluation of body image and self concept A low

Figure 1.7 Nine-figural scale of Thompson and Gray, 1995 29

Figure 1.8 Interaction between viewer, clothing, body and environment.

value of body cathexis indicates dissatisfaction with one's own bodyappearance.

Body cathexis is highly related to the satisfaction of the fit of the clothing Itwas reported that normal weight groups were most satisfied with their body and

expensive and fashionable give a message to the consumer that something iswrong with their body However, less fashionable and less expensive privatelabel merchandise does not carry the prestige to affect the consumer's opinion oftheir own body LaBat and DeLong studied the body cathexis and the perception

investigated the body cathexis of the nude body and the clothed body of 29working women They found that these working women were significantly moresatisfied with their clothed bodies than with their nude bodies, showing theimportance of dress in enhancing the perception of body appearance

1.6.3 Illusion created by dress

The principles of illusion can be applied to the design of dress so as to camouflagethe undesirable body attributes and to make the person's appearance closer to the

shoulder, the Muller-Lyer principle can be applied to create an appearance ofincreased shoulder width and body height (see Fig 1.9) Design A in Fig 1.9 canmake the wearer look closer to the ideal proportion A slender figure can be madefuller by adding fullness at the bustline and hipline and reducing the visual width

of the waistline A short figure can look taller by minimising horizontal lines in thedesign In general, parts of the body which are judged to be too large can besubdivided into smaller areas or counterbalanced by increasing the visual size ofthe surrounding elements Body proportions which are considered too small may

be masked or increased in size through the use of perspective and gradienttechniques, or by minimising the size of adjacent elements

garment size on the perceived body size The perceived body sizes of threeChinese males (thin, medium and obese build) wearing different sized white T-shirts were assessed Within the limits of commercially available T-shirt sizes, itwas found that, for thin and medium build persons, the perceived body size isbigger when wearing T-shirts in a larger size However, for an obese person,wearing a large size T-shirt tends to make him look thinner (see Fig 1.10).The perception of human faces may also be changed by hair styles andcollars For example, a round face may look better in a straight pointed collarand a square face may look better in a large collar to achieve the illusion of an

Figure 1.9 Effect of design on the perception of body proportion Source: Horn

M J and Gurel L M (1981) The Second Skin, Third Edition Copyright (ß

2003 by Fairchild Publications, Inc Reprinted by permission of Fairchild Books, a division of Fairchild Publications, Inc.) 3

Figure 1.10 The perceived body size grades of the thin model, medium model and obese model.

Davis39 summarised the visual design principles, such as repetition,parallelism, radiation, gradation, etc., and provided `recipe-style' guidelinesfor manipulating fabric texture, style, lines, decorative details, shape, form,colour, pattern, etc., to achieve the desirable visual appearance.

3 Horn M J and Gurel L M, The second skin, 3rd edn, Boston, Houghton MifflinCompany, 1981

4 Etcoff N L, `Beauty and the beholder', Nature, 1994 368(6468) 186±187

5 Wolf N, The beauty myth, New York, Morrow, 1990

6 Gaut B and Lopes D M, Chapter 20 in The Routledge companion to aesthetics,London, Routledge, 2001

7 Langlois J H and Roggman L A, `Attractive faces are only average', Psychol Sci,

1990 1(2) 115±121

8 Pinker S, The language instinct, New York, W Morrow and Co., 1994

9 Humphrey N K, `The illusion of beauty', Perception, 1973 2(4) 429±439

10 McClelland D C, Atkinson J W, Clark R A and Lowell E L, The achievement motive,New York, Appleton-Century, 1953

11 Symons D, The evolution of human sexuality, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1979

12 Rhodes G, Proffitt F, Grady J M and Sumich, A, `Facial symmetry and theperception of beauty', Psychon B Rev, 1998 5(4) 659±669

13 Perrett D I, May K A and Yoshikawa S, `Facial shape and judgements of femaleattractiveness', Nature, 1994 368(6468) 239±242

14 Perrett D I, Lee K J, Penton-Voak I, Rowland D, Yoshikawa S, Burt D M, Henzi S P,Castles D L and Akamatsu S, `Effects of sexual dimorphism on facialattractiveness', Nature, 1998 394(6696) 884±887

15 Marquardt S, `Can beauty be measured?', URL: http://www.beautyanalysis.com/index2_mba.htm 2002

16 Thompson J K, Heinberg L J, Altabe M and Tantleff-Dunn S, Exacting beauty:Theory, assessment, and treatment of body image disturbance, Washington, DC,American Psychological Association, 1999

17 Nassar M, `Culture and weight consciousness', J Psychosom Res, 1988 32 573±577

18 Yu D W and Shepard G H, `Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?', Nature, 1998396(6709f) 321±322

19 Zaadstra B M, Seidell J C, Van Noord P A H, Velde E R, Habbema J D F, Vrieswijk

B and Karbaat J, `Fat and fecundity: Prospective study of effect of body fatdistribution on conception rates', Brit Med J, 1993 306(6876) 484±487

20 Singh D, `Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of hip ratio', J Pers Soc Psycho, 1993 65(2) 293±307

waist-to-21 Singh D, `Body shape and women's attractiveness: The critical role of waist-to-hipratio', Hum Nature-Int Bios, 1993 4(3) 297±321

22 Tovee M J, Maisey D S, Emery J L and Cornelissen P L, `Visual cues to femalephysical attractiveness', Proc Roy Soc Lond: Bio Sci, 1999 266(1415) 211±218.

23 Tovee M J, Hancock P J B, Mahmoodi S, Singleton B R R and Cornelissen P L,

`Human female attractiveness: Waveform analysis of body shape', Proc Roy SocLond: Bio Sci, 2002 269(1506) 2205±2213

24 Fan J, Liu F, Wu J and Dai W, `Visual perception of female physical attractiveness',Proc Roy Soc Lond: Bio Sci, 2004 271 347±352

25 Rudd N A and Lennon S J, `Body image: Linking aesthetics and social psychology

of appearance', Cloth Text Res J, 2001 19(3) 120±133

26 Ushida S, Yamauchi M and Masuda Y, `The influence of individual differencevariables upon the estimation of body image-self-esteem and need for uniqueness', JJapan Res Asso for Text End-Uses, 2000 41(11) 910±920

27 Stunkard A J, Sorensen T, and Schulsinger F, `Use of the Danish adoption registerfor the study of obesity and thinness', in Kety S S, Rowlond L P, Sidman, R L, andMatthysse S W (eds.), The genetics of neurological and psychiatric disorders, NewYork, Raven, 1983 pp 115±120

28 Gardner R M, Friedman B N and Jackson N A, `Methodological concerns whenusing silhouettes to measure body image', Percept Motor Skill, 1998 86(2) 387±395

29 Thompson M A and Gray J J, `Development and validation of a new body-imageassessment tool', J Pers Ass, 1995 64(2) 258±269

30 Gardner R M, Stark K, Jackson N A and Friedman B N, `Development andvalidation of two new scales for assessment of body image', Percept Motor Skill,

35 McVey D, `Fit to be sold', Apparel Ind Mag, Feb., 1984 24±26

36 Markee N L, Carey I L S and Pedersen E L, `Body cathexis and clothed bodycathexis: Is there a difference?', Percept Motor Skill, 1990 70(3) 1239±1244

37 Fan J, Newton E, Lau L and Liu F, `Garment sizes in perception of body size',Percept Motor Skill, 2003, 96 875±882

38 Eicher J B, Evenson S L and Lutz H A, The visible self: Global perspectives ondress, culture, and society, 2nd ed, New York, Fairchild Publications, 2000

39 Davis M L, Visual design in dress, 3rd edn, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall,1996

2.1 Introduction

Clothing appearance or aesthetics is one of the most important aspects ofclothing quality Aesthetics is a very complicated subject because what isappealing to one person may not necessarily be regarded as appealing by thenext person It is therefore almost impossible to universally define garmentaesthetics Nevertheless, people do have a reasonably common notion or concept

of what is good or bad appearance With the exception of some deliberate use of

`puckered' or `wrinkled' surfaces, a nicely smooth and curved garment surface

deterioration or change in appearance, including loss of shape or fit, surfacedegradation, colour change, change in handle and pilling

The evaluation of clothing appearance is critical to product development andquality assurance Subjective visual assessment is still the industrial normbecause of the limitations of the many objective measurement systems Visualassessments can be carried out on the materials and components of clothing aswell as on the overall appearance of the clothing In this chapter, the suitabilityand limitations of various subjective testing methods and past research on therelated issues are reviewed and discussed

2.2.1 Assessment of fabric wrinkle recovery

A large number of techniques and methods exist for assessing fabric wrinkle

appearance is the ability of fabrics to recover from induced wrinkles or to retain

a smooth surface appearance after wear and repeated laundering The methodoften used in industry to evaluate the wrinkle recovery of a fabric is AATCC

principle of the method is to induce wrinkles in the fabric under standardatmospheric conditions in a standard wrinkling device under a predetermined

2 Subjective assessment of clothing appearance

J F A N

load for a prescribed period of time The specimen is then reconditioned andrated for appearance by comparing it with three-dimensional reference standards(AATCC Wrinkle Recovery Replica) The viewing condition is shown in Fig.2.1 At least three trained observers are required to independently rate the degree

of wrinkles The same method has been adopted by the International

It is generally accepted and experimentally proven that fabric colour and

that a darker fabric will appear less wrinkled than a lighter fabric, as the darkerfabric absorbs more light and makes the perception of wrinkles difficult Salter

the fabric pattern Check and black-figure fabrics appeared to obscure the extent

of wrinkling

2.2.2 Assessment of pilling propensity

The appearance and aesthetic quality of clothing are also influenced by thefabric propensity to surface fuzzing and pilling Pills are developed on a fabricsurface in four main stages: fuzz formation, entanglement, growth and wear-

textile fabrics during garment wear can create an unsightly appearance This is aparticularly serious problem with some synthetic fibres, where the strongsynthetic fibres anchor the pills to the fabric surface, not allowing them to falloff as is the case with the weaker natural fibres

Figure 2.1 Lighting equipment for viewing test specimens Source: JIS L 1905:2000 23

The pilling resistance of fabrics is normally tested by simulated wear throughtumbling, brushing or rubbing on a laboratory testing machine The specimensare then visually assessed by comparison with visual standards (either actualfabrics or photographs) to determine the degree of pilling on a scale rangingfrom 5 (no pilling) to 1 (very severe pilling) Figure 2.2 shows a viewing devicefor pilling assessment The observers are guided to assess the pilling appearance

of a tested specimen on the basis of a combined impression of the density andsize of pills and the degree of colour contrast around the pilled areas

Several test methods (ASTM, ISO, BS and JIS) have been established for theassessment of pilling propensity They differ in the way the specimens aretreated to simulate wear conditions and create a `pilled' appearance In ISO

tumbled randomly, under defined conditions, in a cork-lined box, such as the ICIpilling box (see Fig 2.3) for an agreed period of time (say 5 hours)

simulated on the Martindale Tester The face of the test specimen is rubbed,under light pressure for a specific number of movements, against the face of the

Figure 2.2 View device for pilling assessment.

same mounted fabric in the form of a geometric figure, that is, a straight line,which becomes a gradual widening ellipse, until it forms another straight line inthe opposite direction and traces the same figure again Figure 2.4 shows aMartindale Tester.

Figure 2.3 ICI Pilling Box Tester.

Figure 2.4 Martindale Tester.

In ASTM D3511,12 D351213 and D3514,14 pilling and other changes insurface appearance which occur in normal wear, are simulated by brushing thespecimens to free fibre ends, by random rubbing action produced by tumblingspecimens in a cylindrical test chamber lined with mildly abrasive materials, and

by controlled rubbing against an elastomeric pad having specifically selectedmechanical properties, respectively Figure 2.5 shows a Random Tumble Pilling

those in the ISO, BS and ASTM standards

The kind of pilling tester used has a significant effect on the test results Cooke

testers and found that the Martindale and Accelerotor gave more reliable results,

the pilling performance of fabrics in the wet state on the Martindale Tester, the ICIpilling box and the pilling drum He found that use of the Martindale Tester resulted

in worse pilling grades than the other two testers, and different pilling testers havedifferent sensitivities for various fibre, yarn and fabric parameters The chosen testerfor the performance evaluation should best simulate the actual wear condition

2.2.3 Surface smoothness after repeated laundering

of smoothness, of flat fabric specimens after repeated home laundering The test

Figure 2.5 Random Tumble Pilling Tester.

procedure and evaluation method are almost the same as in the two methodsmentioned above, except for the difference in specimen preparation and standardreplicas.

Visual assessment of seam appearance is conducted by comparing the seamswith photographic standards under standard viewing conditions The AmericanAssociation of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), American Society forTesting Materials (ASTM), International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)and Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) have established respective standards andprocedures for visual assessment

2.3.1 AATCC standard

method in the industry for the assessment of seam appearance The test methodwas designed for evaluating the appearance of seams in wash and wear fabrics,but is also applicable to the assessment of seams in both unfinished and finishedgarments or items

The principle of this test method is to compare the appearance of thespecimen seams with the standard photographs, applying the standard overheadlighting procedure The test specimen is mounted on the viewing board as shown

in Fig 2.1 with the appropriate photographic standard placed alongside Alllights are switched off, except the overhead fluorescent light from two 8 inchF96 CW (Cool-White) preheat rapid start fluorescent lamps It is alsorecommended that the side walls of the viewing chamber are painted black,and that black curtains be mounted on either side of the viewing board toeliminate any reflective interference

Two standard photographic seam smoothness replicas are available, one forsingle needle seams and one for double needle seams (see Fig 2.6) Theappearance of the seams is graded in five classes

Class 5: Seam appearance equivalent to Standard 5

Class 4: Seam appearance equivalent to Standard 4

Class 3: Seam appearance equivalent to Standard 3

Class 2: Seam appearance equivalent to Standard 2

Class 1: Seam appearance equivalent to Standard 1

At least three experienced observers are required, each independently rating atleast three test specimens The average ratings of the observations are reported

to the nearest 0.1

The test specimens could be seamed fabrics, garment parts or finishedgarments The samples may be subjected to procedures simulating home